UD Las Palmas
Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949 it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the Estadio de Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 31,250. The club remains the only one in Spanish football to achieve back-to-back promotions to La Liga in its first two seasons. It had a 19-year run in the competition, ending in 1982–83. History Foundation and early years Even though the club registered with the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 6 June 1949, Las Palmas was officially founded on 22 August of that year, as the result of a merger bewteen all five clubs on the island: Club Deportivo Gran Canaria, Atlético Club de Fútbol, Real Club Victoria, Arenas Club and Marino Fútbol Club. The union was to create a club strong enough to keep Canarian players on the island and not to seek a better career on the mainland. Debate was held on the name of the club, which it was agreed would not include the names of any of its predecessors. An early option, Deportivo Canarias, was scrapped due to referring to the Canary Islands on a whole rather than the island of Gran Canaria. The name Las Palmas by itself was also put forward, and then rejected due to the name having already been taken by a defunct club in the city; Unión Deportiva Las Palmas was finally chosen due to its connection to the union which created the team, and its home city of Las Palmas. The first training session at the new club was held on 16 September 1949.Historia - Nombre del club (History - Club name); Las Palmas' official website Las Palmas finished second in its first season in Tercera División (1949–50), ranking third in the following year to reach La Liga for the first time ever, and being the first Spanish club to achieve consecutive promotions in its first two years of existence. The first season in the top flight ended, however, in relegation, but the team returned to the category in 1954, going on to enjoy a six-year spell. Top flight success After Las Palmas returned to the main division at the end of the 1963–64 season, again as champions, the club went on to have its most successful spell in the competition. Managed by Vicente Dauder it finished third in 1967–68 behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and four club players made the Spain squad which hosted and won the UEFA Euro 1968 tournament; the following season the team fared even better and only lost the league to Real Madrid, and thus qualified for European competition for the first time in its history, appearing in the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and being knocked out in the first round by Germany's Hertha BSC (0–0 home draw, 0–1 away loss). Las Palmas player Juan Guedes died suddenly on 9 March 1971 at the age of 28. The next season, French coach Pierre Sinibaldi led the club to the fifth place, with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Cup: after disposing of Torino F.C. and ŠK Slovan Bratislava, the Spaniards bowed out to Dutch club FC Twente; at the end of 1974–75 another team player, Tonono – a defender who played with Guedes – died of a liver infection. Las Palmas' third appearance in European competition came with the 1977–78 UEFA Cup, where it defeated FK Sloboda Tuzla of Yugoslavia in the first round before falling to eventual champions Ipswich Town.Historia - De las tragedias del destino a los argentinos (71-83) (Historia - From twists of fate to Argentines (71-83)); Las Palmas' official website Under the management of Miguel Muñoz, and with players such as Argentines Miguel Ángel Brindisi, Daniel Carnevali (the first to arrive in 1973), Carlos Morete and Quique Wolff, the club also reached its first final of the Copa del Rey in that year, losing on 19 April to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (1–3).Spain - Cup 1978; at RSSSF In the 90s/2000s Las Palmas played mainly in Segunda División, but also spent six years in Segunda División B – the new third level created in 1977 – and, from 2000–02, competed in the top flight. On 3 October 2001 the side managed a 4–2 home win against Real Madrid, with youth product Rubén Castro scoring two goals for the hosts, but the season ended nonetheless in relegation.Liga - El 'niño' que eclipsó a Zidane reta al Madrid (Liga - The 'boy' who eclipsed Zidane challenges Madrid); Yahoo! Deportes, 12 October 2011 Seasons Season to season |valign="top" width=0%| |valign="top" width=0%| |valign="top" width=0%| |} ---- *'31' seasons in La Liga *'26' seasons in Segunda División *'6' seasons in Segunda División B *'1' season in Tercera División Recent seasons : Current squad The numbers are established according to the official website:www.udlaspalmas.es and www.lfp.es Honours *'Second Division: 1953–54, 1963–64, 1984–85, 1999–2000 *Third Division: 1992–93, 1995–96 *Spanish Cup': Runner-up 1977–78 International players ''see also Famous coaches * Miguel Muñoz * Iñaki Sáez * Mariano García Remón * Sergije Krešić see also Affiliated teams Las Palmas has used farm teams since 1954, but its official B-team, Las Palmas Atlético, was founded in 1976.El filial: vivero del fútbol canario (The farm team: feeding ground of Canarian football); Historia del Fútbol Canario A third side was founded in 2006 and reached the highest division of regional football, the Preferente, before folding in 2010 and being re-created the following season.La UD Las Palmas volverá a tener equipo "C" (UD Las Palmas to have a "C" team again); Las Palmas' official website, 20 June 2011 The club also had a women's team in the top division between 2009 and 2011. In 2010 Las Palmas founded an indoor football team for the Liga de Fútbol Indoor, staging matches at the Centro Insular de Deportes.La UD Las Palmas crea un equipo de Fútbol Indoor (UD Las Palmas creates Indoor Football team); Las Palmas' official website, 23 September 2010 Crest Las Palmas' badge is a blue shield with yellow scrolls on top with the club's name, city and archipelago. The municipal arms, granted by the city's mayor, feature in the centre of the design. Underneath lie the five crests of the clubs which united in 1949 to create the club: from left to right – Victoria, Arenas, Deportivo, Marino and Atlético; a smaller white scroll above them displays the city motto Segura tiene la palma. In Spanish football, many clubs possess royal patronage and thus are permitted to use the prefix Real in their name and use an image of the Spanish crown. Las Palmas do not have such patronage, but top its crest with the Spanish crown due to the patronage held by Real Club Victoria. The crest is the central emblem of the club flag, a horizontal bicolour with yellow on top and blue underneath. The flag of the city of Las Palmas uses these colours diagonally.Historia - Escudo (History - Crest); Las Palmas' official website References External links *Official website *Futbolme team profile *BDFutbol team profile *Official radio *Official shop *Supporters website Category:Association football clubs established in 1949 Category:Football clubs in Spain Category:Segunda División Category:Sport in the Canary Islands Category:UD Las Palmas Category:1949 establishments in Spain ca:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas de:UD Las Palmas el:Ούνιον Ντεπορτίβα Λας Πάλμας es:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas eu:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas fr:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas gl:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas ko:UD 라스팔마스 id:UD Las Palmas it:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas lt:UD Las Palmas hu:UD Las Palmas nl:UD Las Palmas ja:UDラス・パルマス no:UD Las Palmas pl:UD Las Palmas pt:Unión Deportiva Las Palmas ru:Лас-Пальмас (футбольный клуб) simple:U.D. Las Palmas sk:UD Las Palmas fi:UD Las Palmas sv:UD Las Palmas tr:UD Las Palmas zh:拉斯帕尔马斯竞技联盟